<John> Carrie knows that she has to escape.

<Carrie> This is like my dream come true.

<Daniel> When they're ready to get milk, they'll come down here.

<Watson> The best thing you could do with buttermilk is make great biscuits.

<Lisa> Ummm...That's really good.

<Kelli> We're doing a Pie Bake Off competition.

<Che Che> I'm going to win.

<Carrie> Oh my God!

Pie extravaganza!

<Tarah> I'm going to try not to eat this entire plate.

<Savannah> This is one for all the marbles.

♪ [bright music] ♪ <Carrie> I took my mom's best recipe and started selling handmade Southern biscuits.

Now I'm balancing a family, a business and biscuits every day.

Thank you so much.

I'm Carrie Morey.

And this is how I roll.

♪ [music] ♪ <Kelli> We're kind of doing our own farm to table thing here in the bakery.

We're inviting all of our bakers to bake their own pies and bring them in for a competition.

<Carrie> Our bakers are incredibly busy because we have so many online orders and wholesale orders to fill.

<Kelli> We like to do these competitions, just to give everyone a chance to kind of blow off some steam.

It's a really great time to take a quick little break and have fun together.

<Employee> I'm making a pie.

And I'm going to win.

<Kelli> We are very competitive.

We love to win all of us.

But it's never like divisive.

It's all in good fun.

<Che Che> Mine will be infused with alcohol.

<Hannah> I have a family pie recipe.

I've never entered into a competition before.

<Josh> I got some secrets, but you'll just have to wait and find out.

<Kelli> I think there's some very skilled bakers.

I think I'm going to be a good competitor.

But I'm a little nervous.

There should be a lot of really, really tasty stuff here tomorrow.

<Carrie> Caroline...Caroline <Caroline> I'm coming.

Gosh.

<Carrie> Hi.

<Caroline> Hi.

<Carrie> Will you help me?

<Caroline> Yes.

What do you need?

<Carrie> I was going to do that potato salad.

Would you wash those real quickly in the colander for me?

Just a quick rinse, and bring it back over here and we'll slice them.

Farm to Table means knowing where your food's coming from, teaching your children how food grows and why it's important to be respectful of the process.

Why don't you grab a knife and if we both do it, it'll go quicker.

I want them face up on the pan and then we'll just drizzle a little olive oil on them.

Now you're going to use your hands to kind of - No, no, no, come here.

<Caroline> Okay.

<Carrie> Go ahead and mix it all together.

Yeah.

And then you got to make sure you put them right back up right side up again.

They don't even need any salt or pepper yet because we're going to put a ton of that on when they come out hot.

Okay, let's start chopping up those herbs.

Cut the ends off both sides.

I've already cleaned them.

I'm going to go ahead and put the garlic down here.

And then we're going to add parsley and basil and thyme, but really you can do any herb.

This has already been washed, so just cut on the diagonal side, like down and like that.

That should be enough.

Then you know the trick for getting thyme off of the stem is to go backwards?

<Caroline> Okay.

<Carrie> It has been incredibly special to have this time with Caroline.

So how was volleyball?

<Caroline> Tiring but good.

<Carrie> I know that there's not much time left with her as she's entering her junior year.

These are fleeting moments, so I have to take advantage.

Okay, so now chop them all together, relatively fine.

<Caroline> I don't like chopping herbs.

<Carrie> Well use a bigger knife, and then you want to go down, down, down, down.

And it's easier if you choke up on the knife and hold it closer.

Look at there!

You're doing it.

That's perfect.

So, then stop, and then kind of pull it all together and get it off your knife.

I can see that she's very passionate about food.

That's awesome.

Okay, grab the butter beans, the leftover butter beans and that mixed green in there.

Really good local butter beans.

So put a little bit of spring mix in here.

And then why don't you pick the two ripest tomatoes.

To be able to cook what has just come out of the ground, that is a gift.

These are gorgeous.

♪ [calming music] ♪ Look at that one, uh!

♪ [calming music continues] ♪ Okay, so we're going - the potatoes are almost done.

So, let's build like a little base of this.

So, don't use all this but kind of swirl it around.

♪ And then you're going to do the same thing with the mayonnaise, but it doesn't get quite as much.

Okay, and then half of these herbs and the garlic and the onions and do the same thing.

Smells so good.

So, I'm just going to lift up this parchment and then as soon as I put it in there, I want you to toss, toss, toss.

Okay?

<Caroline> So, toss, toss, toss.

<Carrie> Use those volleyball muscles.

Perfect.

Keep doing a lot of that.

Let's do some salt and pepper.

Yum!

That's my kind of potato salad.

As a small business owner, it's even more important for me to support local farmers when I can because we're supporting our neighbors.

We're supporting our friends.

♪ <John> Carrie knows that she has to escape the business.

<Carrie> Note to self.

Don't leave the fried chicken machine without the fried chicken pan.

<John> Every day, there's a challenge of fixing something that broke.

And when she goes away on these excursions, none of that can happen, so she can just enjoy it.

<Carrie> Buttermilk is an essential ingredient to us.

It's in almost every biscuit that we make.

And so, I wanted to come out and learn how it was made.

♪ [steady bluegrass music] ♪ <Watson> Hickory Hill Farms has been in our family since 1764.

And we've got about 750 acres here.

The entire property, we have about 250 cows, that's cows, calves, everything and we produce about 2 million gallons a year.

Carrie has been a huge supporter of Hickory Hill Milk.

We've been selling them buttermilk for many years now.

<Carrie> The property is gorgeous.

<Watson> Thank you.

<Carrie> We saw some cows.

<Watson> If it's was okay with y'all, we'll start with the babies and kind of work our way up.

<Carrie> As we pulled in.

I said the babies.

<Watson> Y'all get to pet the babies.

>> They will let us pet them?

<Watson> Oh, they love it.

They're spoiled.

♪ [steady bluegrass music] ♪ ♪ [upbeat bluegrass music] ♪ <Kelli> We're all just going to enter pies.

We're not going to put our names on them or any identifying characteristics.

We're going to have judges and they're going to taste each one and pick which one is their favorite.

I think a favorite to win is our baker Josh.

We had a potluck a few months ago and he made a mango cheesecake that was like the talk of the town.

I know Annalyle, we've had a lot of conversation going around that.

She is ready to win.

<Annalyle> I'm going to win this pie contest and I can't wait.

<Che Che> Annalyle thinks she's going to win but - <Annalyle> I am going to win.

>> You will not win, Annalyle.

I am going to win.

>> Do you want to make a pie?

That's a boy!

Let's make a pie.

Okay, I am making a coffee toffee ice cream pie.

And it has a half gallon of coffee ice cream.

It has toffee chips, with chocolate cookie crust and some caramel topping.

It seems like a simple recipe but actually it's from the Culinary Institute of my sister's kitchen.

Okay, so you want to put about half a bag of the bits in there.

Alright, so you see how that's all mixed in together?

And that looks pretty perfect.

Take a little bit of the topping.

This is very precise.

This is a very serious recipe.

Put some toffee bits on the bottom.

The first time that I served this pie to Carrie, she called me and said it was fantastic.

Then when her husband John got the pie, he said, <John> Stupid good.

One of my favorite things I've eaten.

Carrie claims I ate the whole pie.

That's probably 75% true.

<Annalyle> That's why I'm going to win the contest you see.

And then I put it in the freezer for about five hours.

After it's been in the freezer for two hours, I take it out and top it with some more caramel.

One bag of toffee bits works perfect for each pie.

I'm going to put it in the freezer.

But this is my coffee toffee ice cream pie.

Also known as the winner.

[cows moo] ♪ [slow bluegrass music] ♪ <Carrie> Hi!

<Watson> All of these are the newborn babies, and they love to be petted on.

This is kind of like the nursery, the crib area.

So, they're ready to go out.

<Carrie> But they don't have teeth yet.

<Watson> Cows will never have teeth on the top.

They only have bottom teeth.

If you find a cow's got top and bottom teeth, call me.

We're going to be rich.

<Carrie> I want to take you home.

This is like having a loofa.

<Watson> Yeah, <Carrie> I love it.

You are just licking on my leg, and you've got... <Watson> The tongue feels like sandpaper.

<Carrie> Yeah, it does.

This is like my dream come true.

<Watson> This one was born yesterday.

<Carrie> Oh, my beautiful!

Welcome to the world.

<Watson> They are about 65 or 70 pounds when they're born.

This is corn salad.

Corn, the whole plant is considered a grass.

We harvest about 200 acres of this every year.

And this is the base for the cows ration.

So, we add protein, we add energy, we add vitamins and minerals.

We actually look at the butterfat content in the milk and the protein content in the milk, because that affects you directly.

We want that buttermilk to be really, really creamy, <Carrie> Yes.

<Watson> and thick and tastes great.

And we have a nutritionist that comes in every two weeks to keep that cow happy, healthy and productive.

<Carrie> This is like a spa for cows.

I needed to come here after I had my babies because I was very stressed, and I was not good at producing milk.

<Daniel> Here we have our new freestyle barn.

The cows here they eat, sleep live all out here in the barn.

When they ready to get milked, they'll come down here, and the gate will read her tag, it'll know which cow it is.

And it'll either sort her into the holding area to get milked.

Or if she doesn't have milking permission, it'll sort her back out with the general population.

[cow moos] Now, it'll just put these milking cups on, and it'll let the machine milk her now.

<Amy> That cow is an over producer.

She just...produced, she just produced 28 bowls.

<Ashley> One bowl would give us around 130 biscuits.

So that's... <Amy> So, 130 times 28.

I can't do that math, <Ashley> I can't do that math in my head.

<Amy> Holy cow!

That's a lot of biscuits!

<Ashley> - lot of biscuits.

<Hannah> I am a little nervous about making the apple pie for the pie contest.

Because it is so traditional.

I know a lot of people are going to really think outside of the box, but it's what I know.

I'm adding some white sugar, some brown sugar.

Apple pie is nothing without cinnamon, so I really go in on the cinnamon, tiny little bit of salt, a pretty heaping tablespoon of cornstarch.

Also going to add in a heaping tablespoon of flour.

The apples will release their juices and that corn starch and flour will make it all thick.

I learned to have an appreciation for farm to table largely through my Grandma Barbara who taught me how to make the apple pie.

And that's me when I was a little girl.

She lived on a farm.

She would go out and pick the apples for her apple pie.

I always just hope I can do her justice.

This dough is very chilled.

So, it's a little tough to start out with, but the more that you work it the easier it is to work with.

I just take my empty pie dish and just set it on top and just make sure that there's a good border.

And I just drape the dough over and sort of gently roll it like that.

And I just lift it up and perfect.

I'm just going to take my scissors and trim the edges a little bit.

This is ready for the filling now.

These apples have only been sitting for about 10 minutes and you can see there's so much juice in there already.

So delicious.

Sprinkling on the topping, it's quick oats, melted butter, brown sugar, and some more cinnamon.

That's great.

Now it's time for the lattice.

I just start in the middle and make one cut to start with a clean edge there.

♪ [steady bluegrass music] ♪ And then I'm going to take a strip and lay it across.

And then take those strips and lay them back down gently.

♪ [steady bluegrass music continues] ♪ Folding it under like this really helps to get a nice crunchy, flaky crust.

I like to garnish it with cute little dough leaves.

This is a little extra, but I am trying to win this competition.

so, beautiful.

I'm going to bake it for about 50 minutes at 350 degrees.

♪ When I make this apple pie, I'm always thinking of my grandma.

She's the one that influenced me on how to appreciate food and make food taste good.

♪ [music ends] ♪ [cow and bird sounds] <Watson> The thing that's different about our buttermilk is we culture our buttermilk for 18 to 20 hours.

So, it's a thick, creamy buttermilk.

Most buttermilks culture for 6 to 8 hours.

You can get creative with buttermilk.

You can put it in pancake mixes.

You can put it in a macaroni and cheese.

My wife puts it in mashed potatoes.

I guess the best thing you could possibly do with the buttermilk is make great biscuits.

<Carrie> I kind of feel like if you get the right amount of buttermilk to get that super moist dough that can't really go wrong, and you can't get a dry biscuit.

And now I have a biscuit cutter.

<Lisa> Okay.

>> You don't use a biscuit cutter.

<Lisa> No, I have a quart jar.

<Carrie> Love that.

<Lisa> It'll make around 20 or so biscuits, I think.

<Carrie> You like to have them touching on the pan.

<Lisa> Almost <Carrie> Almost touching.

<Lisa> Almost touching.

<Carrie> I'm going to put my first tray in the oven.

Do you butter yours before?

<Lisa> No, I do not.

<Carrie> I butter before - <Lisa> That's really good <Carrie> and after.

<Lisa> No, that's good.

That makes them more sinful.

But they'll be great.

♪ [slow bluegrass music] ♪ <Carrie> Watson, thank you so much for hosting us.

This has been an incredible day.

And I wish I had more workdays like this.

<Watson> I always enjoy people coming to the farm because we've been blessed with a beautiful place and we like to share.

[cow moos] ♪ [upbeat music] ♪ <Cate> I am going to win this pie contest.

<Carrie> Cate, definitely is the most interested in food out of all of our daughters, and she's really interested in baking.

And I have a picture of her on a stool in diapers with the spatula right next to me.

This pie is Papa's, my grandfather on my mom's side.

It was his favorite pie.

<Carrie> Love you.

<Cate> Love you too.

<Carrie> Later.

<Cate> Bye.

<Cate> Can I toast the whipped cream?

<Carrie> I mean is now the time to mess with the tried and true recipe?

It's up to you.

You're the one entering the contest.

I have the utmost confidence that she will produce a great pie.

I have zero confidence that she will leave the kitchen in good form.

The original recipe was a chocolate meringue with a whipped cream and toasted pecans.

We altered the recipe to make it the best ever and that was chocolate meringue with chocolate whipped cream and toasted pecans.

The secret to this pie would be to follow the recipe because it's tried and true and it was the best ever.

<Cate> I want to try and toast the whipped cream on the top.

So now I'll mix the egg whites.

Just had to add the chocolate now.

And that will make it a chocolate meringue.

There's no crust, the meringue is the crust since it hardens itself.

And then I'll put this in the oven for 30 minutes.

♪ [steady music] ♪ I'm going to make the whipped cream that goes on top of the meringue.

This is two cups of cream and half a cup of sugar.

[mixer whirring] ♪ [steady music] ♪ Can't get it.

♪ [steady music] ♪ <Carrie> I don't think you can toast whipped cream.

I've never heard of toasting whipped cream.

<Cate> Nope, does not work.

Just melts it.

I don't want to taste this.

Dad!

I need you to come taste this.

Is it good?

<John> Excellent!

<Cate> Really?

Wait, I need your honest opinion because I've never tasted that before.

<John> I only have honest opinions.

<Carrie> I cannot wait for them to judge Cate's pie.

<Cate> I'm definitely going to win.

The best part is that my mom has to do the dishes.

♪ [upbeat music] ♪ <Kelli> I entered a pie into the competition.

It's a chocolate pie with homemade whipped cream.

I've seen some of the other pies that people brought in and they're pretty elaborate, but you never know.

Sometimes some good old classic chocolate pie can be the best thing in the room.

<Hannah> This is a great shot.

I think one of the apple pies is going to win.

<Josh> I'm feeling really great about my pie.

Already said I was going to win.

I don't know why everyone's doubting me.

<Che Che> Josh came through with his pie.

And I'm a little scared.

I'm more of a at home baker.

He's more of a wedding.

<Kelli> Oh, yeah.

This is exactly what I thought you were making.

<Che Che> Oh, Annalyle.

<Annalyle> What did you make?

<Che Che> It's with apple pie filling a little tequila, cornbread.

<Annalyle> A little tequila!

<Che Che> Caramel and some walnuts.

<Annalyle> Okay, yes.

<Carrie> Oh my God.

It's a pie extravaganza.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, look at this.

Oh, my goodness!

<Kelli> Didn't I say the Carrie would be obsessed with that?

<Carrie> Amazing logo.

This looks gorgeous!

Look at that delicious one.

I am very proud of Cate and her pie making skills and she's got some tough competition, but to be the youngest one, she's doing a great job.

<Savannah> So, while Ashley is cutting, I'm going to go over the categories, so we can get this thing started.

The first category is best in presentation, the second is taste and flavor.

The third is pie requirements.

What makes a pie, a pie that means, the crust, the filling.

The fourth is creativity.

And the winner is best overall.

♪ [upbeat music] ♪ <Kelli> For judges, we have Cara who's an intern with our marketing team, Savannah from the bakery and then Ashley who's one of our production managers.

<Savannah> Actually, it might be a pear.

<Cara> I feel like it is pear.

<Tarah> I'm going to try not to eat this entire plate, but it all is so good so far.

They did a great job.

<Employee> Really tastes like fall, all the apple pies.

<Annalyle> Everyone is a winner and we're so happy that everybody's here.

<Savannah> I taste coffee.

That's my favorite.

<Ashley> It's the only ice cream too so it was easy.

<Ashley> It's very light, very light, like a chocolate mousse or something.

<Ashley> The cinnamon roll, <Cara> This one looked amazing.

<Ashley> It's great.

I think that's our winner.

We have a winner guys!

<Savannah> Awesome!

<Ashley> Awesome job.

<Savannah> So, presentation, we're going to go with Callie's which was number six.

[applause] <Savannah> Take a bow!

For taste and flavor was the ice cream cake pie, which was number 4.

[applause] And for pie requirements is the chocolate which is number 12.

<Kelli> Oh my gosh!

[applause] >> You guys!

I didn't think I'd win anything.

<Savannah> Creativity was number two, which is the cinnamon roll.

[applause] All right, this in one for all the marbles.

The best overall, was the streusel apple which is number 10 [applause] <Hannah> Not going to lie when I saw Josh's pie, I got a little scared.

[giggles] So, this is a good win.

<Josh> I underestimated my competition just slightly.

But next time I won't let that happen again.

<Cate> Even though I don't bake every day and they bake every day of their lives, I still wanted to try, and I can always try again next year.

<Carrie> You're going to learn something every time so it's not about winning.

It's about entering.

<Annalyle> You tried.

You did well.

<John> Um, Annalyle didn't win.

And so, I'm really interested in to have the pie that did win.

Or there are a lot of people who don't taste things correctly.

<Producer> What does that mean?

<John> That they were wrong.

<Annalyle> Best taste, but as for winning and taking it all home, it didn't happen.

We'll talk on the car ride home.

♪